Prison World–Clinton vs. Trump Debate

During the first presidential debate, Clinton called for reform of our system of justice. In Clinton’s April 2015 speech on criminal justice reform, she listed five points which included the end of private prisons.

In the first presidential debate, Clinton renewed her call to end private prisons. She praised the Department of Justice’s announcement that it would phase out Bureau of Prisons contracts with private prison companies. Clinton went further than Pres. Obama and demanded the end of private state prisons.

Unlike other presidential campaigns, private prisons are now an election issue. A Pennsylvania focus group welcomed Clinton’s demand to end all private prisons. after the debate, the members of the focus group explained their strong feelings about private prisons.

In 2011, there was a “Kids for Cash” scandal which shocked the nation, but especially everyone in Pennsylvania. A Pennsylvania judge was sentenced to 28 years for accepting bribes from a private prison company owner. The owner paid the judge to send children to the private prison.

After this scandal, many Pennsylvanians wanted an end to private prisons. The focus group members saw Clinton’s position as a high mark for her bid to become president.

Trump did not comment at all about private prisons. Trump did not discuss any recommendations for the reform of our broken system of justice.

11 Responses to Prison World–Clinton vs. Trump Debate

Hi There; If offenders were watching this last night any jail or prison plus without staff supervision it would have caused a riot. From what I understand I has been the most watched debate in USA history but of two of the most distrusted people running for this power plus high profile political position. Listening to the various media both felt they won but everyone media reporter that their now that on this from last night. The true test will be election night and let the USA citizens decide at the ballot box. Let’s hope who ever gets in will address the current issues facing the Criminal Justice System in your country Good luck! Thank you from an interested Canadian. By Bob

In most discussions about criminal justice reform the focus seems to be on incarceration, recidivism and unjust sentencing laws. Yet Hillary Clinton has focused her attention on blaming law enforcement and systemic racism within law enforcement. Yet she offers no alternative to putting bad people in jail and prison. Statistically incarceration rates are very proportionate to the race of known offenders. I can only assume that her answer is to not arrest an offender if they are black.

The incarceration rates show statistically that minorities are disproportionately incarcerated. “Nationally, according to the U.S. Census, Blacks are incarcerated five times more than Whites are, and Hispanics are nearly twice as likely to be incarcerated as Whites.” See link–http://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/rates.html

Ed– Bradly. There’s a very good reason for this fact. Evidence produced by several studies as well as statistics show that Blacks are over represented in incarceration rates but that’s because of the black crime rate.

Bradley– Ed. there are studies showing that the system as is is unfair to minorities. Frankly, I personally have seen the bias that is inflicted on minorities. However, we know that we will never agree re: these issues.

Again Ed, I respectfully disagree with you concerning your opinion of treatment of minorities by our system of justice. At the end of the day, each one of us can find studies to support our respective positions. Have a good evening. By -Brad

Robert– Mr. Schwartz no one is disputing past unfair treatment of blacks by police. Also no one can dispute that blacks commit more crimes proportionate to the population and those proportions are reflected in the prison population. I was trying to make two points. We should be addressing why more blacks commit crimes and how do we fix that and what alternative is there to putting bad guys in jail regardless of their race. If we continue to try to blame police for high black incarceration rates then nothing will ever change. We are focusing on the wrong things.

If you combine all of those incarcerated around the world, you would see that it is all kinds of race that are put in jails or prisons. The only difference is how? or Where? they are incarcerated. Also, there could be the worse prisons or the best prisons if you are talking about living conditions. Some prisons look like they stuff people in a cage with no space sad to see it. One Prison looks like a Class A Condo. When the person is arrested for a crime of course they are going to send them to jail, it is not because of their race it’s because of the Crime committed. The assumption or conclusion that this race commits more crimes is wrong. Like I said, all around the world it is all kinds of race that are put in jails or prisons for their crimes. By Mary

Yes Bradley. As a minority member myself, I’m VERY concerned about any racial group being targeted for murder, etc. And as a retired law enforcement official I take offense at being implicated in any plan to harm any particular or general group.

What part of what I wrote above do you find hard to believe? I’ve always made it a point not to write anything I can’t substantiate. I’ll be glad to provide (Black) scholarly and non-scholarly references. by-Ed

Ed, I would love to discuss further, but too glued to pre-debate news. Each side can find statistics to support their position and/or interpretation of the statistics. In any event, from one minority to another minority, enjoy the day. By Bradley